Did Jesus
Die Spiritually, His Spirit Become Re-Created, And He Become Born Again?Neil Rivalland

The cross of Christ
and the Atonement are at the heart of the Christian faith. Our understanding
of the doctrine of the Atonement affects our understanding of all other
fundamental Christian doctrine - everything from the attributes of God,
to the person of Christ, to the doctrine of salvation, and to our understanding
of sanctification. It cannot be put more clearly than what has already
been written by the New Testament writers of Christ's atoning work found
in the Scriptures (1 Cor. 15:1-4; Tit. 3:4-7; Eph. 1:7, Col. 1:14). To
formulate doctrine beyond what the Scriptures declare is the imagination
of man's conceit, inventive theory and vain speculation.

The New Testament
atonement, the deity, and the sinlessness of Jesus Christ are the
most attacked doctrines by the cults and the false religions. In this article
elaborated upon will be the New Testament atonement and Christ's sinlessness
in defense against the unscriptural teachings of the word of faith/ positive
confession movement.

Our salvation by which
we have been redeemed to God through Christ hinges about the atonement;
the propitiatory sacrifice of His body which was broken so His blood could
be shed. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sins, according to the riches of his grace; (Eph 1:7).No more was
required for our salvation than redemption through his blood (1 Pet. 1:18,
19). To say Christ died spiritually, took on the nature of Satan, was dragged
to hell to be tormented of Satan, became re-created in spirit, and born
again as the word of faith/ positive confession has taught is the fabrication
of the imagination, as nowhere is it to be found that the Holy Bible supports
such a theories. Sadly, the teaching that Christ died spiritually is one
of the many doctrines they have plagiarized from works of E.W. Kenyon of
who's works I will discuss in this article.

One of the key disciples of word of faith/positive confession, Kenneth
Hagin, has declared,

[s]piritual death
means something more than separation from God. Spiritual death also
means having Satan's nature. . .Jesus tasted death - spiritual death
- for every man. [Kenneth E. Hagin, The Name of Jesus (Tulsa, OK:
Kenneth Hagin Ministries, 1981), 31.]

Roots of the Word
of Faith/Positive Confession Movement

Much of Kenyon's theories
are practiced, and his writings plagiarized by the word of faith/positive
confession promulgators. The positive confession movement, also known as
the "faith movement," profess characteristics in their teachings that resemble
either identical, or modifications of the foundational doctrines of E.W.
Kenyon. The five major doctrines prominent are: faith in faith; guaranteed
health; wealth/prosperity; spiritual death of Christ; and the view that
Christians are little gods. These doctrines all originated with Kenyon.
[Michael G. Moriarty, The New Charismatics (Zondervan Publishing
House, Grand Rapids, Michigan), p. 80.]. As any one of these doctrines
can be analyzed at length, the "spiritual death" of Jesus is the one I
will deal with - the most erroneous doctrine of them all.

The origin of the
positive confession teaching can be traced back to the life and teachings
of E.W. Kenyon who was introduced to the philosophical ideas of positive
confession at Emerson College of Oratory in Boston in 1880. [D.R. McConnell,
A
different Gospel: A Historical and Biblical Analysis of the Modern
Faith Movement (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1988), p. 35-36]

The religious system
promoted at Emerson College was New Thought metaphysics,* which is a system
of cultic belief that taught that true reality is spiritual, that the spiritual
is the cause of all physical effects, and that the human mind through positive
mental attitude and positive confession has the power to create its own
reality: either health and wealth, or sickness and poverty. [D.R. McConnell,
A
different Gospel: A Historical and Biblical Analysis of the Modern
Faith Movement (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1988), pp. 35-36].To believe
that true reality is spiritual, and that the human mind has the potential
to create its own reality is sorcery. In hinduism this is called maya,
and
is based upon the ancient sorcerer's belief that the entire universe is
an illusion created by the mind. [Dave Hunt, The Seduction of Christianity
(Harvest
House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon 97402), p. 138.]. Incidently, there used
to be a children's TV animated program called "Maya the Bee" many years
ago. Then it was not as obvious, but today the New Age Movement (based
on hinduism) have infiltrated every sector of society, indoctrinating our
youth with sorceress practices. Not only is the world being influenced
by New Age principals, but, also the church, who are adopting these identical
principles and techniques masked or disguised under new titles and
names. New Thought is the old technique called Transcedentalism, which
emphasized that thought controls everything. Out of his book The Seduction
of Christianity Dave Hunt wrote,

The power of thinking,
whether negative or positive, was believed to be sufficient to even create
physical reality or destroy it. God was not personal, but a great Mind
which was activated by our thoughts and would actualize them into our concrete
form. The corollary to this axiom is obvious: Man is divine. Forced out
of the church at that time as heresy, New Thought became the basis for
such mind-science cults as Christian Science, Religious Science, and Unity.
Today's church is being swept by a revival of New Thought, now called Positive
Thinking, Possibility Thinking, Positive Confession, Positive Mental Attitude,
and Inner Healing. We are very concerned that this time New Thought, which
represents inside the church what New Age is in the secular world, will
not be forced out, but will remain within the evangelical church to contribute
to the growing confusion and seduction. One of the most basic New Thought
techniques is visualization, which is now firmly entrenched within the
church. [Dave Hunt, The Seduction of Christianity (Harvest House
Publishers, Eugene, Oregon 97402), p. 150.]

Emerson College of
Oratory in Boston, where E.W. Kenyon received his instruction, was "a hotbed
of the emerging New Thought philosophy." [John Coffee and Richard L. Wentworth,
A
Century of Eloquence: The History of Emerson College, 1880 - 1980
(Alternative
Publications, 1982).] Kenyon's teaching about "the power of words" and
his warnings never to make a "negative confession" [Kenyon and Gosset,
Confession, pp. 129-36, 152-55, 182-85, etc.] deeply influenced Hagin and
many others who are recognized today as leaders of the word of faith/positive
confession movement. Kenyon also taught that man is a little god "in God's
class" and therefore can use the same faith-force that God does. [E.W.
Kenyon, What Happened from the Cross to the Throne? (Kenyon, 1945,
5th ed.) pp. 62, 173-76.] We allegedly create our own reality with the
words of our mouth: "What I confess, I possess." [E.W. Kenyon,
The Hidden
Man: An Unveiling of the Subconscious Mind (Kenyon, 1970), p. 98.]

The theological deviations
of E.W. Kenyon from orthodox Christianity were initially minor when compared
to those later on in his ministry. With each of Kenyon's disciples who
succeeded him, the errors became more and more pronounced. In his book
Christianity
in Crisis, Hank Hanegraaff wrote,

Hagin who popularized
Kenyon, not only expanded Kenyon's errors but added to them as well. The
progression from bad to worse has continued with people like Kenneth Copeland
and Charles Capps, and is now sinking to new depths through ministry leaders
as Frederick Price, Benny Hinn, and Robert Tilton. [Hank Hanegraaff, Christianity
in Crisis, (Harvest House Publishers, Oregon, 1993), p. 32.]

Kenyon taught that
Jesus was imputed with Satan's nature on the cross, died spiritually, and
went to hell to suffer in our place. [E.W. Kenyon, Identification: A
Romance in Redemption (Seattle: Kenyon's Gospel Publishing Society,
1968), p. 15.]

In a thesis submitted
by D.R. McConnell to theological faculty, Oral Roberts University, McConnell
summarizes Kenyon's reasoning to the physical death of Jesus insufficient
to atone, citing:

For Christ to defeat
his enemies, He had to: (1) die spiritually and become one with Satan in
order to provide salvation from sin and healing for sickness, (2) die physically
and fulfill the Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenant, (3) be dragged to Hell by
Satan where He suffered the torments for the damned for three days and
nights, (4) be recreated in Hell and , thus, become the first born again
man, (5) defeat Satan and the Demonic host in open combat, (6) rise from
the dead as vindication of His victory in Hell, and (7) ascend to the Father
where He was enthroned and now serves as the priestly mediator of the new
covenant.[D.R.
McConnell, The Kenyon Connection: A Theological and Historical Analysis
of the Cultic Origins of the Faith Movement (Thesis submitted to the
theological faculty, Oral Roberts University, Tulsa, Oklahoma, May 1982),
32-33. Also see Kenyon, Identification, 8, 15, 18.]

Kenyon had also this
to quote. "Since sin and sickness are purely spiritual, mere physical death
could never atone, nor could it deal with the source of sin and sickness:
Satan." [E.W. Kenyon, Jesus the Healer, p. 17.]

Kenyon's attendance
at Emerson College gave him broad exposure to various transcendental and
metaphysical ideas. Although Kenyon probably did not consciously appropriate
the teachings of the metaphysical cults to dignify his doctrine, he was
unquestionably influenced by various strands of metaphysical teaching.
[Michael G. Moriarty, The New Charismatics (Zondervan Publishing
House, Grand Rapids, Michigan), p. 79.]

The mission of the
college was to produce graduates who would believe, practice, and preach
the New Thought Gospel of Charles Wesley Emerson, founder of the college.

What does Scripture
say happened at the cross?

What Christ did
at the cross was,

reconcile man to God
by redemption through His blood for the forgiveness of sin. (Eph. 1:7;
Col. 1:14; 1 Pet. 1:18, 19; 1 John 1:7).

justify man by His
blood (Rom. 5:9).

purge our conscience
from dead works, by His blood, to serve the living God (Heb. 9:14).

sanctify us (make
us holy) with His own blood. (Heb. 13:12).

wash us in His blood
from our sins (Rev. 1:5).

make peace through
the blood of His cross, and to reconcile all things unto himself; whether
they be things in earth, or things in heaven. (Col. 1:20)

in his own self bare
our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should
live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Pet 2:24)

bring the Gentiles
who were far off near by His blood (Eph. 2:13).

make Himself our peace,
who hath made both Jew and Gentile one, and hath broken down the middle
wall of partition between them (Eph. 2:14).

abolish in His flesh
the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to
make in himself of two, both Jew and Gentile, one new man, so making peace;
(Eph. 2:15).

reconcile unto God
in one body, both Jew and Gentile, by the cross, having slain the enmity
between them (Eph. 2:16).

confound the wise,
destroy their wisdom, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent
(1 Cor. 1:18, 19).

blot out the handwriting
of ordinances (the Law) that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and took it out of the way (Col. 2:14).

become dead to the
law through His body, and marry Himself to us who is raised from the dead,
to bring fruit unto God (Rom.7:4).

become the author
and finisher of our faith (Heb 12:2).

die for all,that
they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him
which died for them, and rose from the dead. (2 Cor.
5:15)

Nothing is ever mentioned
of Christ's motive by any of the disciples, especially that of Paul, of
Jesus dying spiritually. What Paul does say is:

"For I delivered unto
you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures;And that he was buried,
and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:" (1 Cor.
15:3, 4)

"For to this end Christ
both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead
and living." (Rom. 14:9)

Take careful note
of what is said in the Scriptures above - that of three events which took
place:

1. Christ died,

2. Christ was buried,

3. Christ rose from
the dead.

One must distinguish between what is didactic (meant for instruction,
and in this instance: biblical doctrine and theory), and what is narrative
as in the example of Matthew's account of Jesus' death. When Matthew records
the words of Christ, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?" (Mat.
27:46) he does this as the account to what transpired before the eyes of
witnesses, and not as a teaching on the atoning work of Christ. In his
book Did Jesus Die Spiritually?, Hobart E. Freeman writes,

What are we to make of our Lord's statement "My God, My God, why hast
thou forsaken Me?" First, this cry of despair was not merely spontaneous,
but Jesus was well aware that He was reciting a quotation from a prophetic
passage, Psa. 22:1. King David first uttered these words in the midst of
suffering trials. But these words also have an application to the Messiah,
as do numerous other Old Testament passages. [Hobart E. Freeman, Did
Jesus Die Spiritually? (Warsaw, Ind.: Faith Ministries and Publications,
n.d.), p. 39.]. I would advise one read Psalm 22 if not entirely certain
what its content is for personal clarification.

Psalm 22 is entirely prophetic, having reference to the crucifixion
of Christ. Jesus truly in agony in Psalm 22 identifies Himself as the One
of whom the prophetic Psalm spoke. Such prophetic statements are foreordained
expressions to fulfill the Old Testament prophets predictions.

An interesting but flawed illustration used by many Bible teachers to
describe the separation between Father and Son is the picturesque explanation
of how the Father had to turn His head from His Son when the sins of the
world were dumped on Him. Psalm 22, however, repudiates this illustration
by stating that exactly the opposite happened; the Father did not turn
away from His Son, but looked upon Him with care.

" For he hath not
despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he
hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard." (Psa. 22:24)

Word of faith/positive confession ministers use Mat. 27:46 to support
their theory that when Jesus died on the cross He became "sin" and was
imputed with Satan's nature, abandoned by the Father, and went to hell
for three days and three nights where He was tortured by the Devil. Copeland
says,

There is no more sacrifice beyond this [the cross] because God has given
Himself. There's not any further that God can go 'cause that is part of
Himself hanging on that cross. And the very inside of God, hanging on that
cross, is severed from Him and in that moment of severing, the spirit of
Jesus accepting that sin and making it to be sin, He's separated from His
God at that moment. He's a mortal man; capable of failure, capable of death.
Not only that, but He's fixing on being ushered into the very jaws of hell.
And if Satan is capable of overpowering Him there, he will win the universe
and mankind is doomed. [Kenneth Copeland, What Happened from the Cross
to the Throne? (Fort Worth: Kenneth Copeland Ministries, n.d.), cassette
tape, side 2.]

How does one interpret
Acts 2:31 where Peter quotes Ps. 16:10 by saying, "that his [Jesus'] soul
was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption."?

How do Kenyon, Hagin,
Copeland and the like justify the claims they make?

Nowhere in Scripture
is there an account of Christ going to hell as the word of faith/positive
confessors say who use Eph. 4:9-10 to support their argument. Earl Paulk
in his book, Satan Unmasked, writes this, "Ephesians 4 clearly states
that Jesus went into hell and demonstrated how to conquer death, hell and
the grave." [Earl Paulk, Satan Unmasked (Atlanta: K Dimension, 1984),
p. 252.]

Theologians throughout
church history have differed in their interpretation of verse 9, but none
of which Paulk and certain charismatics conclude. The apostle Paul writes
in Eph. 4:9-10 "Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended
first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same
also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things."

What did Paul mean
by the phrase "the lower parts of the earth?"

Many of the earlier
church fathers believed this referred to Christ's decent into the underworld,
which comprised of two places, the place of torment and the place of comfort.
While either of these views is possible, the most likely interpretation
is that Paul was simply referring to Christ's decent to the earth in His
incarnation.

Isaiah 44:23 gives
reference to the "the lower parts of the earth." God had delivered Jacob
by blotting out her sin which was cause for great rejoicing that even all
creation in the lower parts of the earth, that of: mountains, forests and
every tree rejoiced at Jacobs deliverance. Therefore. from Scriptural perspective,
the "lower parts of the earth" do not indicate this to be the underworld,
and to use Eph. 4:9-10 as proof text to argue that Jesus descended into
hell as a mortal man to be tortured by the Devil is a bizarre speculation
going way beyond the truth of Scripture.

One final reference
worthy of examination is found in 1 Pet. 3:18-20.

"For Christ also hath
once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us
to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:By which also he
went and preached unto the spirits in prison;Which sometime were
disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah,
while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved
by water."

In his book, The
New Charismatics, Michael Moriarty writes,

First, according to
Peter, Christ died in the flesh (not in the spirit) and was then made alive
(resurrected) by the Spirit. After this He went to preach to the spirits
in prison. The order of events here is significant because Hagin and Copeland
insist that Jesus was not born again spiritually until after He
suffered in hell. However, if they understand these verses (vv. 18-19)
to teach that Jesus went to hell, why does the text say that He was made
alive by the Spirit "before" He went to preach to the spirits in prison?
The sequence of events here casts another doubt against their war-in-hell
theory.

Second, Peter tells
us that Christ went and preached to the spirits, Copeland and Hagin say
that Christ was a prisoner who suffered at the hands of Satan. This wild
theory, however, is exactly the opposite of what the apostle Peter says.
Christ was not the prisoner, but He preached to the prisoners making proclamation
to them.

The exalted Christ
passed through the realm where the unbelieving spirits reside, or where
the fallen angels are kept, and proclaimed His triumph over them (see Eph.
6:12; Col. 2:15). Although the passages in 1 Pet. 3:18-20 are not crystal
clear, they clearly do not teach that Jesus was tormented by Satan as a
spiritually dead mortal man. [Michael G. Moriarty, The New Charismatics
(Zondervan
Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan), pp. 374-5.].

By God's grace (Acts
15:11) we appropriate or take possession of by faith what Christ has done
for us at the cross (Rom. 3:21; 1 Cor. 15:2-4; Eph. 2:8-9). We are saved
by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ based on the Father's giving
of His Son (John 3:16) in the finished work of the cross, and not the redemption
in hell that word of faith/positive confession professors teach.

When Jesus promised
the thief on the cross eternal life; "Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt
thou be with me in paradise." Luke 23:43), Jesus said to-day - the very
day He gave up the ghost, that He would be with the redeemed thief in paradise.
How could it have been also possible for Jesus to be in hell as well?

Also, upon Jesus giving
up the ghost, He declared, "It is finished!" The blood of Christ had been
shed. Atonement had been made for the sins of mankind. Reconciliation between
God and man was at that very moment now made possible.

The doctrine that
Christ died spiritually, took the nature of Satan, went to hell, was re-created
in hell, became born again, and in hell is where the redemption of man
was made, is being taught in a growing number of charismatic circles. The
doctrine of the Atonement is being distorted, and rejected. For example,
Copeland has unabashedly stated that Christ's atoning work on the cross
was not sufficient for our redemption. He writes,

When Jesus was made
to be sin; He was separated from God. This is the reason while hanging
on the cross, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "My God, My God, why hast
thou forsaken me?" He had finished the Abrahamic Covenant by becoming the
last sacrifice to ever be offered. When His blood was poured out, it did
not atone, it did away with the handwriting of the ordinances that were
against us. Jesus spent three horrible days and nights in the bowels of
this earth getting back for you and me our rights with God.[Kenneth Copeland, from
a form letter dated March 12, 1979, and sent to those who had questions
concerning his view of Christ's alleged spiritual death and atoning work.]

What Copeland has
said here is patently unbiblical. The Bible clearly states that Christ
finished His atoning work on the cross (John 19:30).

Numerous believers
are being misled by Copeland and others who have adopted the teaching that
Christ's work on the cross was unfinished. They do this to the detriment
of those trusting their capable leadership that this is biblical truth.

The teaching of the
word of faith/positive confession movement upon examining it, presents
three essentials to what happened to Christ from the Cross to the Resurrection,
which implied are: (1) Jesus died spiritually and took on Satan's corrupt
nature, (2) Jesus was dragged to hell and tortured by the devil for three
days and nights, and (3) Jesus had to be born again by His spirit becoming
re-created.

Unless the Scriptures
are able to thoroughly examine that what is being taught here is the Word
of God, these teaching can only be considered as distortion of the truth
- doctrines of devils (1 Tim. 4:1).

Spiritual Death

E.W. Kenyon was the
first within the church to teach that Jesus died spiritually and was imputed
with Satan's nature on the cross.

Many believe that
when Jesus bore the sins of the world He was for the first time separated
from God. If this is so then what implications does this have on the relationship
between the Father and the Son. Kenneth Hagin and Kenneth Copeland have
openly taught that when Jesus died on the cross He "died spiritually."
They say spiritual death is something more than being separated from God;
it is taking on the nature of Satan. The claim that separation from God
involves taking on a satanic nature is speculation, as nowhere in the Bible
does it say the unsaved have a satanic nature, let alone saying Christ
took on a satanic nature is blasphemy. It is no wonder that if Kenyon and
Hagin have an unbiblical view of the nature of humankind that their view
of Christ is also distorted.

Hagin forgets that
by supporting the view of Christ having taken on the nature of Satan disqualifies
Him as the sacrifice for our sin. Christ could then never be the "...lamb
without blemish and without spot:" (Heb. 9:14; 1 Pet. 1:19) if this is
what both Kenyon and Hagin imply. Christ is the sin offering of the New
Covenant, eternally righteous, pure and holy and of which these characteristics
never changed at His death on the cross. The Scriptures declare that God
took away the first; the Old Covenant atonement, to establish the second;
the New Covenant atonement, which is the sacrifice of His only begotten
Son through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Heb
10:9, 10). This is well covered in this article under the sub-title The
Atonement.

To say Christ died
spiritually is to reduce Him to the level of sinful man, and breed doubt
to His divinity and deity in union with the Godhead. God cannot die, so
how can this be possible? Christ was put to death in the flesh, not the
spirit (1 Pet 3:18).There
is no reference in the Bible to this, but what the Bible does say is Christ
died a physical death - offering His body as the sacrifice for our sin.
The Scriptures tell us our redemption took place at the cross when the
blood of Jesus was shed, and by offering His flesh as the atonement for
sin. The blood of Christ is what we have been purchased with (Acts 20:28;
Col. 1:14), for bringing us into reconciliation or at-one-ment with God.
Paul draws attention to everything regarding the death of Christ as bodily,
with no mention of Him ever dying otherwise. The significance of Christ's
body is important as paying attention to because it is the antitype of
the New Testament sacrifice. (Rom.8:3; Eph. 2:15; Col.1:22). "Forasmuch
then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him
that had the power of death, that is, the devil" (Heb 2:14).

It was necessary for
God to appear to us by His Son Jesus Christ so that the suffering Servant
of Isaiah 53 could be fulfilled when the sins of the world were imputed**
to
Him, and "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Heb.10:10) "In the body
of his flesh through death, to present you[us] holy and unblameable
and unreproveable in his sight" (Col.1:22) "Who his own self bare our
sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should
live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." (1 Pet.2:24).
"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust,
that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the Spirit:" (1 Pet 3:18). By suffering, and putting
sin to death in His flesh He has reconciled us to God. Wherefore we "...are
become dead to the law through the body of Christ," and married
to Christ who is raised from the dead, to bring fruit unto God (Rom.7:4).

The fundamental principle
in which God deals with sinners is expressed in the words apart from the
shedding of blood, i.e., unless a death takes place, 'there is no remission'
of sins, (Heb. 9:22). Blood is sometimes substituted for death, inasmuch
as, blood being essential to life (Lev. 17:11), when the blood is shed
life is given up, that is, death takes place. When the blood with regards
to Jewish sacrifices is mentioned, no reference is made to the victim from
which it flowed, but in the great antitypical sacrifice of the New Testament
the words the blood never stand alone; the One Who shed the blood is invariably
specified, for it is the Person that gives value to the work; the saving
efficacy of the Death depends entirely upon the fact that He Who died was
the Son of God." [W.E. Vine. An Expository Dictionary of New Testament
Words (Moody Press Chicago W.E. Vine. An Expository Dictionary of New
Testament Words. Moody Press Chicago)]

God ritually depicted
in the Old Testament that an acceptable substitute had to be holy and guiltless
itself in order to bear the punishment for the guilt of the sinner, therefore,
a pure and holy sacrifice is exactly what the Old Testament type required;
Jesus Christ now being the pure and holy new covenant sacrifice.

Sin entered the world
by the disobedience of Adam. When Christ went to the cross it was His voluntary
act to impute the sin of Adam upon Himself, therefore, nullifying the consequences
of what brought death. Man's sinful state cannot be compared to Christ's
voluntary act of taking the sin of the world upon Himself, as this would
make Him a mere man. Kenneth Copeland seems to think Christ was a mere
man, and that he (Copeland) could just as well been the atoning sacrifice
for the sins of the world, quoting:

The Spirit of God
spoke to me and He said, "Son, realize this. Now follow me in this and
don t let your tradition trip you up." He said, "Think this way - a twice
born man whipped Satan in his own domain." And I threw my Bible down ...
like that. I said, "What?" He said, "A born-again man defeated Satan, the
firstborn of many brethren defeated him." He said, "You are the very image,
the very copy of that one." I said. "Goodness, gracious sakes alive!" And
I began to see what had gone on in there, and I said, "Well now you don
t mean, you couldn t dare mean, that I could have done the same thing?"
He said, "Oh yeah, if you had the knowledge of the word of God that He
did, you could ve done the same thing. cause you re a reborn man too.[Kenneth
Copeland, Substitution and Identification, (Kenneth Copeland Ministries,
1989), tape #00-0202, side 2.]

The Atonement

Atonement is the act
by which God restored the relationship, harmony, and unity between Himself
and human beings. Through God's atoning grace and forgiveness, we are reinstated
to a relationship at-one-ment with God, in spite of our sin.

A quote from Nelson's
Illustrated Bible Dictionary explains the purpose of the Atonement.

Human Need. Because
of Adam's sin (Rom. 5:18; 1 Cor. 15:22) and our own personal sins (Col.
1:21), no person is worthy of relationship with a Holy God (Eccl. 7:20;
Rom. 3:23). Since we are helpless to correct this situation (Prov. 20:9)
and can do nothing to hide our sin from God (Heb. 4:13), we all stand condemned
by sin (Rom. 3:19). It is human nature (our sinfulness) and God's nature
(His holy wrath against sin) which makes us "enemies"

God's Gift: Atonement.
God's gracious response to the helplessness of His chosen people, the nation
of Israel, was to give them a means of RECONCILIATION through Old Testament
covenant Law. This came in the sacrificial system where the death, or "blood"
of the animal was accepted by God as a substitute for the death (Ezek.
18:20) which the sinner deserved: "For the life of the flesh is in the
blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for
your souls" (Lev. 17:11).

The Law required that
the sacrificial victims must be free from defect, and buying them always
involved some cost to the sinner. But an animal's death did not automatically
make people right with God in some simple, mechanical way. The hostility
between God and man because of sin is a personal matter. God for His part
personally gave the means of atonement in the sacrificial system; men and
women for their part personally areexpected
to recognize the seriousness of their sin (Lev. 16:29-30; Mic. 6:6-8).
They must also identify themselves personally with the victim that dies:
"Then he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will
be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him" (Lev. 1:4).

In the Old Testament,
God Himself brought about atonement by graciously providing the appointed
sacrifices. The priests represented Him in the atonement ritual, and the
sinner received the benefits of being reconciled to God in forgiveness
and harmony.

Although Old Testament
believers were truly forgiven and received genuine atonement through animal
sacrifice, the New Testament clearly states that during the Old Testament
period God's justice was not served: "For it is not possible that the blood
of bulls and goats could take away sins" (Heb. 10:4). Atonement was possible
"because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously
committed" (Rom. 3:25). However, God's justice was served in the death
of Jesus Christ as a substitute who "not with the blood of goats and calves,
but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having
obtained eternal redemption" (Heb. 9:12). "And for this reason He is the
Mediator of the new covenant" (Heb. 9:15).

Our Response. The
Lord Jesus came according to God's will (Acts 2:23; 1 Pet. 1:20) "to give
His life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45), or "for all" (1 Tim. 2:6). Though
God "laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Is. 53:6); {also (2 Cor. 5:21;
Gal. 3:13)}, yet Christ "has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering
and a sacrifice to God" (Eph. 5:2), so that those who believe in Him (Rom.
3:22) might receive atonement and "be saved from[God's]
wrath" (Rom. 5:9) through "the precious blood of Christ" (1 Pet. 1:19).

No believer who truly
understands the awesome holiness of God's wrath and the terrible hopelessness
that comes from personal sin can fail to be overwhelmed by the deep love
of Jesus for each of us, and the wonder of God's gracious gift of eternal
atonement through Christ. Through Jesus, God will present us "faultless
before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 24).

The blood of Christ
is the most important factor relating to one's salvation. as the entire
reason for Christ going to the cross was for His blood to be shed for the
forgiveness of our sins. At the last supper He took the cup and said, For
this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission
of sins.(Mat 26:28)

Notes:

* Metaphysics as a
philosophical system pertains to questions of ultimate reality - in both
the sensible and insensible realms. Such questions include: Why do evil
and sickness exist? What is their nature or essence? What is there origin?

** The Imputation
of the Believer's Sin to Christ. In addition to guiltimputed
from Adam's sin, each individual is also charged with guilt for hispersonal
sin. When the believer is redeemed to God through Jesus Christ, their sin
is blotted out. This Paul describes as "not imputing their trespasses to
them" (2Cor. 5:19). The Lord Jesus, whose supernatural conception and birth
freedHim
from guilt from Adam's sin and who committed no personal sin, had nosin
counted against Him. But when He died as our substitute, God "made Himwho
knew no sin to be sin for us" (2 Cor. 5:21) so that He "bore our sinsin
His own body on the tree" (1 Pet. 2:24). This is made explicit in theBook of Isaiah, where
the prophet says of the Lord Jesus, "The Lord haslaid on Him the iniquity
of us all" (Is. 53:6).